Native Citrus - Castlemaine Victoria Climate

[Claire]

Hi,
I'm looking for advise - will a native citrus such as Eremocitrus galuca survive the extremes of weather in Castlemaine?
Ordinary citrus are fairly hard to grow here - lost of covering and un covering the plants to protect from frosts ect. I'm hoping to find something which migh cope a little better

We get both ends of the extreme:
Winter the minimum overnight can be -4, often there will be a very heavy frost in the morning. During the day there is often clear skies and a top of 13 +.
Summer is very dry and hot we've just been through the 45 C hot spell but an average would be 30 - 38C
Yearly rain is around 600mm.
Our soils are clay with lots of sedimentry rock and gravels. - No idea on pH.

Would love any advise or personal experiences
Cheers,
Claire

[eataust]

I've got a friend in Canberra testing the desert lime for its survival in frost and dry heat; she figured it was the best option. I _believe_ it's surviving but will have to check.

I can say that the general finger limes, including the grafted ones, really don't clay soil, frost, AND dry heat. Poor things ...

My figuring is that they'll work best in pots on the sunny side of the verandah, and possibly be brought inside in winter. Otherwise, I'm really hesitant about putting any cirtus - native or exotic - in the ground in these climates.

Sorry for the belated reply!

[Santalum]

I have dozens of desert limes grown from seed coming up to 9 years of age unirrigated (for the last 5 years). They are slow to grow. The issue is not how hot you get it is how long it stays hot for. These plants will not grow once the temperature sinks below a certain critical temperature for growth so you generally find the trees are dormant for the large part of the year.

Another impediment to growth rate I have found is Crusader beetle attack on fresh growth.

Stick to grafts if you are impatient and have water.

Aaron
www.australianuts.com